Down to the Wire (17 page)

He licked his lips. “Where are we?” he slurred.

TL relayed everything he had said to me.

I pointed with my head toward the picture wall. “Your uncle’s been keeping up with you.”

While Wirenut studied the wall, I described to him what I had seen.

When I was done, he sighed. “What does he want with me?”

“We’ll find out soon enough.” TL lifted his head. “Look around the room. Tell me what you think.”

Wirenut took a minute, studying the walls, corners, ceiling, floor, chains. It seemed as though he didn’t leave a single inch unscrutinized.

“Turn around, GiGi. Let me see what Zorba put on you.”

I did.

Wirenut nodded. “These chains make it look old world. But it’s not. At all. Motion sensors in each corner. When triggered the chains crank tighter. The room’s divided into small zones.
Certain spots will activate my restraints. Other spots TL’s. And yet others, both of ours.”

“What’s the trigger?” asked TL.

“The steel bands around GiGi’s wrists.”

What?
“Me? I’m the trigger?”

Wirenut nodded.

TL tugged on his holds. “So my movement’s okay?”

“Yes.” Wirenut moved. “Mine, too.”

I twisted my wrists. “Then all we have to do is get my bands off?”

“That’s right.”

I glanced around. “And a door? How do we get out of this place?”

Wirenut indicated the picture wall. “Hidden door’s there. The release of all of our bonds will trigger it to open.”

Before TL or I could respond, a portion of the picture wall soundlessly slid open. Octavias Zorba stepped through the opening. Before the doorway glided closed, I saw that a dark tunnel stretched behind him.

I scooted closer to TL. Not that he could protect me or anything. But being near him made me feel safe.

“I see that everyone’s awake. Good.” Zorba lifted his cane and pointed it at Wirenut.

“No!” I screamed. Hadn’t he been through enough?

Zorba shot me a condescending, amused glance. “Dear, your concern touches me.”

I clenched my jaw. I wanted to rip off his face.

He pressed a button on the cane, and a panel next to Wirenut’s head slid open.

Whistling, twirling his cane, Zorba strolled across the room.

If we could get that cane, we’d be home free. It seemed to control everything in this mansion.

Unmoving, Wirenut watched as his uncle got closer and closer. I could only imagine what horrid scenes raced through Wirenut’s brain, staring into the eyes of the man who slaughtered his entire family.

Zorba stopped only an inch away. Wirenut didn’t look away and, in fact, lifted his chin a notch.

I was so proud of him for not being intimidated. Or at least not showing it if he felt it.

Zorba reached into the panel and pulled out the double-bladed, lion-engraved sword. Two shiny, silver blades extended from a black handle. A red lion had been etched into each long, sharp edge. A small space separated the twin blades. If a person was stabbed, they’d have two puncture wounds instead of one.

The fierce reality of the weapon stunned me.

Slowly, Zorba brought it down, trailing it across Wirenut’s chest. Taunting him.

Wirenut swallowed, but made no other movement.

Zorba twirled away, wielding the sword and the cane, slashing them through the air.

I stared at Wirenut, hoping he’d look at me, willing him all
the emotional support I could. He wouldn’t take his eyes off his uncle, though.

Zorba tapped the picture wall with the sword. “As you can see, I’ve kept tabs on you. I knew you’d turn out to be great. I saw the possibilities in you even when you were a baby. That’s why I saved you, you know? Because you were gifted. The rest of your family”—Zorba flicked his wrist—“useless. All of them. Especially your father, my
big
brother. I hated him. I always hated him. And your mother? We were engaged. Did you know that? She used to be mine, until my
big
brother met her.”

His venomous words spoken in a nonchalant, whatever tone brought tears to my eyes.
He’d massacred Wirenut’s family because they were useless?

“And actually, I told your father I’d kill his family if he went to the police about all my business dealings. Guess he didn’t believe me.” Zorba sauntered over to one of the urns. “I’m a man of my word.” He stroked the blade through the flame of the candle that sat in the corner. “I lost track of you after the New Mexico arrest. Where you first met my precious Katarina.”

He slid the cane into a side holster on his hip. “I set all this up, you know? Katarina impersonating the Ghost. The neurotoxin. It was all to test you. To flush you out. Turns out I flushed out a few people with you. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of them when I’m ready.”

He turned from the candle. “So look at me. I’m brilliant. Because here you are.”

“What do you want with me?” Wirenut asked.

“Why, nephew, I’m surprised by your query. I want you to come work for me, of course.”

“Never.”

Zorba slid his finger over one of the sword’s tips, bringing blood. “You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just keep you. Raise you myself.” His cordial tone turned menacing. “Kind of hard to do with being arrested, getting a new identity. And you got lost in the system there for a while, too. Turns out it worked better to watch you from a distance. To see where your gifts lie. Unfortunately, I think I should’ve taken you sooner. Seems this organization you work for has brought out too much goodness in you. Time to get you back.” Zorba stroked his bloody finger down one cheek and then the other.

Wirenut’s chains rattled, jerking my attention away from Zorba. Wide-eyed, shaking, Wirenut stared at his uncle, seeming hypnotized by him.

The bone-deep fear sent a chill through my body.

Zorba trailed blood across his forehead. “Look familiar?”

Wirenut gasped for a breath. And then another.

This was probably what Zorba had done right before butchering Wirenut’s family. Some sort of ritual.

Which meant Zorba planned on doing the same…to us.

TL rotated his wrist in a steady, repetitive pattern.
Clickclack. Clickclack. Clickclack.

The soft clinking of his chains drew my frantic thoughts. I focused hard on his bound wrist and seconds later looked into
his eyes. The assured calmness in their depths brought me peace and confidence. I knew what TL was doing. He’d told me once that making a repetitive noise would calm a nervous teammate.

“Good, GiGi. Now Wirenut,” TL whispered. “Let’s get him focused and under control.”

In unison we
clickclacked.
TL with his chains and me tapping my nail to the steel band around my wrists. Little by little, Wirenut’s body stopped shaking. He dragged his eyes from his uncle and focused on us.

Mentally, I transmitted all the confidence I felt.

We’re going to be okay.

Seconds later his expression softened, and I knew he felt it, too.

Zorba turned and pointed the sword at me. “Tell me, dear, where do your talents lie?”

I glanced down at TL, and he nodded.

“Computers,” I answered. “Code.”

“Oh, yes. Can’t have a team without a computer genius.” Leisurely, he crossed the short distance between us, stopping at TL’s head.

Zorba loved being in control, toying with a person’s psyche. He reveled in it. It was written all over his face.

He put the sword tip down next to TL’s ear. “I’ll assume you’re the man in charge. Tell me, man in charge, how did you go about getting such talented kids? I’ll bet you have a whole group of them somewhere.”

TL shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

Zorba teetered the sword back and forth. “Don’t suppose you’d be in the mood to do a little swap. Your life for the location of your special kids?”

TL didn’t take his eyes off Zorba. “No deal.”

“I’ll pay.”

“No thanks.”

“All right then.” Zorba flicked his wrist, and TL stiffened. Blood flew across the room.

“You bastard!” I screamed.

Zorba snickered at my outburst.

I glanced down at TL. I couldn’t see exactly where he’d been cut, but it looked like his ear.

Zorba whistled his way over to Wirenut. “Let’s see if my little nephew still has his scars. He tried to save his family, you know? He jumped on my back and tried to choke me.” Zorba clucked his tongue. “Silly five-year-old boy.”

Zorba trailed the sword from Wirenut’s shoulder across his chest down to his hip. Then did the other side, tracing a giant X on Wirenut’s body.

Wirenut kept his attention fastened on TL. Good thing, because he wouldn’t see calmness in my eyes. He’d see downright pissed-offness.

“Leave him alone,” I warned, anger boiling in my veins.

Zorba cut me another one of those condescending, amused glances. “Or what?”

I tightened my jaw.

He peeled Wirenut’s wet suit away, revealing his entire upper
body. Wirenut flinched. A long, jagged scar bisected his shoulder.

The gruesomeness of it morphed my boiling anger into full-on rage.

Way back in the crevices of my subconscious, I felt TL’s eyes on me. But my fury made me ignore him.

Zorba tapped Wirenut’s scar with the sword. “Scars make great conversation pieces. I think it healed quite nicely.”

Wirenut’s breath quickened. His stomach contracted. And I went over the edge.

With my bound ankles and wrists, I propelled my body weight headfirst over TL, dropped to a roll, and swung my feet out.

Zorba tripped to the ground.

Chains clanked. I’d triggered my teammates’ torturous restraints.

One of them groaned.

I blocked my need to help them and focused on Zorba instead.

I tumbled toward him just as he pushed up, brought my feet back, and rammed them into his crotch.

He dropped to his knees with a grunt.

I swung around to my back and crammed my heels into his throat.

He gagged.

I swerved to my knees, grabbed the cane with my mouth, and ripped it from his side holster.

Immediately, I tasted blood.

Chains cranked. TL and Wirenut groaned.

With the cane clenched between my teeth, I slid away. I put it on the ground pointing toward Zorba, and, with my nose, I mashed the button I’d seen him press.

The paralysis cathode.

Zorba thunked to the floor.

“The red button!” Wirenut shouted over his pain.

I ground my nose into the red button. The chains halted. My heart stopped.

I looked at TL, stretched to the limit, gritting his teeth against the pain. Blood from his injury pooled under his head.

“What do I do?”

“Get your tool belt,” Wirenut hissed.

Get my tool belt?
It was still strapped to my thigh.

I hobbled up beside Zorba and lay down next to the sword. I slid my thigh along one of the blades to cut it from my leg. Instead, the blade nicked my skin, and I cringed. My wet suit split open.

“Hurry!” Wirenut yelled. “He’s waking up.”

I glanced up, right into Zorba’s eyes.

[11]

Zorba’s black eyes
narrowed to two tiny slits.

Not giving him a chance to think, move, or even breathe, I used my knees to ram the sword in his direction.

He roared in pain as blood squirted my face.

“The cane!” Wirenut yelled.

I rolled away from Zorba over to the cane, squirmed my body toward the handle, and crammed my nose into the button controlling the paralysis cathode.

Zorba passed out.

I looked at him to see where I’d stabbed him. Both blades stuck clean through his knee, visible on both sides. Any other time I would’ve gotten queasy at the sight.

Retribution settled my stomach though.

“Come to me.” TL sounded as though he’d adjusted to the pain of being stretched.

“You have three minutes,” Wirenut informed us, “before he wakes back up.”

I pushed to my knees. “How do you know?”

“I watched the clock when you knocked him out the first time.
The cathode’s only good for two shots. Then the fuse has to be switched out. So when he wakes up, he wakes up.”

Glancing at the wall-mounted clock, I made a mental note of the time and shuffled toward TL.

He wiggled his fingers. “Put your tool belt next to my right hand.”

Lying down next to his hand, I scooted my thigh as close as I could.

“What do I need?” TL asked Wirenut.

“Get the number three giclo wrench,” he answered. “Should be right in front.”

TL’s fingers slipped past one tool to the next, and he tugged it from its slot. “Got it.”

There was no way I could identity a tool by touch. Hammer, sure. But a number three whatever wrench? No way.

He positioned the wrench between his thumb and forefinger. “Put your wrists next to my hand.”

I checked the clock as I sat up. “One minute, fifty-eight seconds.” I positioned my steel bands next to his fingers.

TL inserted the tool. “Wirenut?”

“Right ninety degrees. Left forty-five.”

Two tiny
tings
and my hands were free. I grabbed the wrench from TL. “Same for my feet?”